Singing and music have always played an important role in learning and the communication of culture. Children learn from the role models what they see and hear. For the past 35 years, some children's television has very effectively used the combination of words, music and fast-paced animation to achieve learning.

Most parents are concerned about what their young children see and hear, but as children grow older, parents pay less attention to the music and videos that hold their children's interest.

The sharing of musical tastes between generations in a family can be a pleasurable experience. Music also is often a major part of a teenager's separate world. It is quite common for teenagers to get pleasure from keeping adults out and causing adults some distress.

A concern to many interested in the development and growth of teenagers is the negative and destructive themes of some rock and other kinds of music, including best-selling albums promoted by major recording companies. The following troublesome themes are prominent:

• Advocating and glamorizing abuse of drugs and alcohol
• Pictures and explicit lyrics presenting suicide as an "alternative" or "solution"
• Graphic violence
• Rituals in concerts
• Sex which focuses on control, sadism, masochism, incest, children devaluing women, and violence toward women

Parents can help their teenagers by paying attention to their teenager's purchasing, downloading, listening and viewing patterns, and by helping them identify music that may be destructive. An open discussion without criticism may be helpful.

Music is not usually a danger for a teenager whose life is happy and healthy. But if a teenager is persistently preoccupied with music that has seriously destructive themes, and there are changes in behavior such as isolation, depression, alcohol or other drug abuse, a psychiatric evaluation should be considered.

For additional information see Facts for Families: #3 Teens: Alcohol and Other Drugs, #10 Teen Suicide, #13 Children and TV Violence, #55 Understanding Violent Behavior in Children, and # 65 Children's Threats: When Are They Serious. See also: Your Child (1998 Harper Collins)/Your Adolescent (1999 Harper Collins).

If you find Facts for Families^© helpful and would like to make good mental health a reality for all children, click here to donate to the Campaign for America’s Kids. Your support will help us continue to produce and distribute Facts for Families, as well as other vital mental health information, free of charge.

You may also mail in your contribution. Please make checks payable to the AACAP and send to Campaign for America’s Kids, P.O. Box 96106, Washington, DC 20090.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) represents over 7,000 child and adolescent psychiatrists who are physicians with at least five years of additional training beyond medical school in general (adult) and child and adolescent psychiatry.

Facts for Families^© information sheets are developed, owned and distributed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Hard copies of Facts sheets may be reproduced for personal or educational use without written permission, but cannot be included in material presented for sale or profit. All Facts can be viewed and printed from the AACAP website (www.aacap.org). Facts sheets many not be reproduced, duplicated or posted on any other Internet website without written consent from AACAP. Organizations are permitted to create links to AACAP’s website and specific Facts sheets. To purchase complete sets of Facts for Families, please contact the AACAP Circulation Clerk at 800.333.7636, ext. 131.

Copyright ^© 2004 by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Please read this disclaimer.

[Facts For Families Main Menu] [Spanish] [Deutsch] [French]